Heat exchange coil and housing therefor

ABSTRACT

A heat exchange coil housing structure providing interchangeable side, top and bottom panels whereby the shifting of panels allows for airflow in a plurality of different directions without repositioning the heat exchange coil.

United States Patent Pierce 1 1 July 25, 197 2 5 4 HEAT EXCHANGE COILAND HOUSING 3,299,660 1/1967 Sullivan 62/285 THEREFOR 2,118,328 5/1938Roland ..62/326'X 3,156,233 11/1964 O'Connell ..165/l37 X [72] Inventor:Larry J. Pierce, Clarksville, Tenn.

, FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [73] Assignee: The Trane Company, LaCrosse, WIS.

- 993,773 6/1965 Great Britain ..55/481 [22] Filed: Oct. 23, I970 l. NI: 83 495 Primary Examiner-Albert W. Davis, Jr. A [2]] AppAttorney-Arthur 0. Andersen, Carl M. Lewis and Robert E.

Lowe

[52] U.S.Cl ..l65/76, 62/285, 62/326.

I 165/137, 98/33 ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl ..F24I 13/02, F25b 39/02 A hemexchange coil housing structure providing interchange [58] Fleltl ofSearch l65/l 37, 76; 62/326, 285; able Side, top d bottom panels wherebyshifting of 98/33 panels allows for airflow in a plurality of differentdirections without repositioning the heat exchange coil. [56] ReferencesCited Claims, 8 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,690,654 /19 54Graham ..62/326 X 39 LC w v 7 fi-n-fl, 7

Patented July 25, 1972 3,678,993

3 Sheets- Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Patented July 25, 1972 3 Sheets-Sheet 3ATTdRNEY Patented July 25, 1972 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 6

FIG. 5

FIG. 8

FIG?

LARR J PIERCE 47/47 55 V ATTOfiN E Y HEAT EXCHANGE COIL AND HOUSINGTHEREFOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In many heat exchange systems,heating or cooling is accomplished by the circulation of a gas across acoil carrying a heated or cooled fluid, the resulting heat transferheating or cooling the gas. Frequently, the gas carries an entrainedvapor which may condense out upon cooling of the gas. Such a situationexists, for example, when humid air is cooled. When the air is cooled toor below the dew point, the entrained water vapor condenses out of theair.

When such condensation takes place, the liquid condensate generallycollects on the surface of the coil, first as a light mist, andeventually attaining droplet size if sufficient cooling of enough air iscontinued. The accumulation of these condensate droplets may presentserious problems in the operation of the unit, and provisions mustnormally be made for the collection and removal of the condensate.Frequently a drain pan is provided subjacent the coil to collect the thecondensate so that it may be evaporated off or otherwise removed fromthe system.

To be effective, the drain pan must generally be positioned at leastpartly below the coil so that the condensate may drip or run into thepan by the action of gravity. The precise location and size of the drainpan will be dictated, in large measure, by the position and orientationof the coil itself. As a result, once the coil is installed into itsassociated housing, and the drain pan fixed relative thereto, thedirection in which gas may be directed through the coil is limited toone or perhaps two directions.

Unfortunately, the construction of heating and cooling systems oftenrequire coils capable of receiving and discharging air in a variety ofdirections. For example, in residential heating and cooling systems, airmay flow from the heating or cooling source vertically upwardly ordownwardly, horizontally in either direction, or may be introducedhorizontally and discharged vertically, and vice versa. Obviously a heatexchange coil capable of accepting and delivering air in only one or twodirections is of limited usefulness.

In prior practice, it has been customary to provide a differentlyconstructed unit for each direction of airflow encountered. For example,an evaporator coil may be installed in the plenum or ductwork ofafurnace in order to use the delivery system of the furnace for deliveryof cooled air during the summer months. Such furnaces may direct airupwardly, as from a basement location; downwardly, as from an atticlocation; or horizontally. Occasionally, air may enter the furnaceplenum in a vertical direction and exit in a horizontal direction, orvice versa. In order to accommodate these various configurations,different evaporator coil units have been provided for each specifictype of airflow, the various units not being interchangeable orconvertible. This of course requires manufactures to build a number ofdifferent units, and requires dealers to stock a variety of units inorder to be prepared to meet each possible installation.

' SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present inventiontherefore to provide a heat exchange coil and housing therefor which canbe adapted to accept airflow in a number of different directions.

A further object is to provide a heat exchange coil with associatedhousing wherein air can be directed across the coil from differentdirections without reorienting the coil.

A still further object is to provide an improved eavporator coil unitfor residential split-type air conditioning systems.

A still furtherobject is to provide an evaporator coil unit which can bereadily adapted in the field to accommodate whatever direction ofairflow might be required for a given installation.

In the present invention, a heat exchange coil is mounted in a housinghaving end walls and side, top and bottom wall frames. The side, top andbottom wall'frames have a panel receiving portion adapted to receive apanel which, when in place, substantially closes the particular side,top or bottom wall. The panel members are preferably interchangeable.Through rotation of the panel members around the coil, airflow may bedirected across the coil in a variety of directions withoutreorientingthe coil. If desired, an auxillary drain pan may be used withcertain configurations.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will beexplained in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawingsin which:

FIG. 1 is a partial end view in section depicting one embodimentof theinvention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a heat exchange coil and housingillustrating another embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 3 is a partial end view in section of the embodiment shown in FIG.2 configured for vertical airflow,

FIG. 4 is a partial end view in section of the embodiment in FIG. 2 withthe panel members configured for vertically upward to horizontalairflow,

FIGS. FIG. 5 is a partial end view in section of the embodiment in FIG.2 with the panel members configured for vertically downward tohorizontal airflow,

FIGS. 6 and 7 are partial end views in section of the embodiment in FIG.2 with the panel members configured for horizontal flow, and

FIG. 8 is a partial end view in section of the embodiment of FIG. 2 withthe panel members configured for horizontal to vertical airflow.

Referring to the drawings, a heat exchange coil 10 is mounted in ahousing indicated generally at 30. The coil may be of any conventionaltype including the type comprising serpentine tubing 11 passingrepeatedly through a series of fins 12. The coil 10 may be held in placeby suitable brackets 13 secured to the coil, brackets 13 in turn beingfastened to end walls 31 by means of bolt fasteners 14. Although coil 10may be oriented within housing 30 in various ways, it is preferred tomount the coil diagonally of the end walls 31 as shown. This orientationgives the maximum flexibility as to airflow direction across the coilfaces 15 and 16, as will be explained in greater detail hereinafter. Itwill be understood that coil 10 is connected by suitable piping andfittings (not shown) to a source of cooled or heated fluid as desired.

Positioned subjacent coil 10 is drain pan 20 which may be generallytrough-shaped and may be provided with an aperture 21 for removingcondensate liquid which may accumulate in the drain pan 20. It has beendiscovered that condensate forming on coil 10 will tend to rundownwardly along the fin and tube structure and finally drip from thecoil at its lowermost corner. Accordingly, it is generally not necessaryto provide a drain pan beneath the entire coil, but rather only beneaththe lowermost portion as illustrated in the drawings.

Housing 30 is generally comprised of end walls 31, side wall frames 32and 33, top wall frame 34 and bottom wall frame 35. Side wall frames 32and 33, top wall frame 34 and bottom wall frame 35 have panel receivingportions 36, 37, 38 and 39 respectively. The periphery of panelreceiving portions 36, 37, 38 and 39 form apertured portions of theside, top and bottom wall frames respectively.

In accordance with the present invention, panel members 40 and 41 aremounted in place at two of the panel receiving portions 36, 37, 38 or39. In FIG. 1, the panel members 40 and 41 are shown mounted in panelreceiving portions 38 and 39 respectively, but it will be understoodthat either one of panel members 40 and 41 may also be mounted in panelreceiving portions 36 or 37, depending upon the desired direction ofinput and output airflow.

The placement of the panel members may be varied to meet particularrequirements, however, each of the panel members must be locatedopposite a different face of the coil, that is, one panel memberopposite face 15 and one panel member opposite face 16. Stateddifferently, the panel members should not both be placed opposite thesame face of the coil. For exv ample, panel members 40 and 41 should notbe mounted to panel receiving portions 37 and 38 at the same time as insuch a configuration air would not flow across the coil but insteadwould bypass the coil and exit without the desired heat exchange havingtaken place.

FIGS. 2-8 illustrate a modified version of the housing shown in FIG. 1.In this particular embodiment, panel receiving portions 37 and 38 areflanged outwardly as at 370 and 38a, and panel member 40a iscorrespondingly flanged inwardly to fit snugly over panel receivingportion 37a or 38a. Panel receiving portions 36 and 39 remain unflanged,as does panel member 41.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 2-8, all of the panel members arenot interchangeable. In that embodiment, the top panel member isinterchangeable with one side member, while the bottom panel member isinterchangeable with the other side member. These features may allow foreasier installation and provide the same number of variations of airflowas in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. I.

FIGS. 38 illustrate the variety of airflow directions which may beselected using the heat exchange coil and housing of the presentinvention. It can be seen that the unit of the present invention can beadapted to the various airflow patterns by proper placement of panelmembers 4012 and 41 without reorienting the coil or the drain pan 20.

It has been observed that when the incoming air impinges upon the uppermost face of coil 10, as in FIGS. 5 and 6,

there is a tendency for the airflow to blow the condensate ofi the coil10 without allowing the condensate to flow completely along the fins tothe drain pan, In that case, it may be desirable to provide auxiliarydrain pan 22 shown in FIG. 5, or auxiliary drain pan 22a shown in FIG.6. The auxiliary drain pan is generally sloped downwardly toward drainpan 20 so that any condensate blown into auxiliary drain pan 22 or 22awill run into drain pan 20 for eventual disposal. The auxiliary drainpan 22 or 220 may be packaged and shipped with each unit and installedif necessary at the job site, or discarded.

It should be apparent from the foregoing description that the presentinvention provides many advantages heretofore not readily available.Since the heat exchange coil housing can be adapted to almost anyairflow pattern in the field, most of the assembly of the unit can bedone at the factory with only a minimum of alteration necessary in thefield. Since the heat exchange coil remains in a single disposition, thedrain pan can be relatively small and compact, and installed in a singleposition. There is no requirement for unnecessary extensions of thedrain pan as is sometimes required in units designed to be turned overto accommodate different airflow patterns. Manufacturers and dealersstock requirements are reduced because a single unit can satisfy avariety of installation requirements.

While in the foregoing description and drawings the present inventionhas been set forth with considerable detail, it will be understood thatsuch detail is for the purpose of illustration and is in no way intendedto limit the scope of the invention. Many modifications andsubstitutions can be made by those skilled in the art without departingfrom the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

I. In combination, a heat exchange coil and a housing therefor, saidhousing comprising end walls and side, top and bottom wall frames havingpanel receiving portions therein;

said heat exchange coil being disposed diagonally of said end withoutregard to the direction of air flow across said coil; whereby said panelmembers may be repositioned to provide alternate air flow paths throughsaid housing.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said panel memberscommunicate with said top and bottom wall frames.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said panel memberscommunicate with said sidewall frames.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein one of said panel memberscommunicates with said top wall frame and one ofsaid panel memberscommunicates with one of said side wall frames. I

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein one of said panel memberscommunicates with said bottom wall frame and one of said panel memberscommunicates with one of said side wall frames.

1. In combination, a heat exchange coil and a housing therefor, saidhousing comprising end walls and side, top and bottom wall frames havingpanel receiving portions therein; said heat exchange coil being disposeddiagonally of said end walls; means for removably securing panel membersto said wall frame panel receiving portions; a first panel memberattached to one of said panel receiving portions on a first side of saidcoil, a second panel member attached to another of said panel receivingportions on the opposite side of said coil, whereby air flows acrosssaid coil in either direction through the two panel receiving portionsremaining uncovered; condensate receiving means subjacent said coil,said coil and said condensate receiving means remaining in fixedposition without regard to the direction of air flow across said coil;whereby said panel members may be repositioned to provide alternate airflow paths through said housing.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1wherein said panel members communicate with said top and bottom wallframes.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said panel memberscommunicate with said sidewall frames.
 4. The apparatus according toclaim 1 wherein one of said panel members communicates with said topwall frame and one of said panel members communicates with one of saidside wall frames.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein one ofsaid panel members communicates with said bottom wall frame and one ofsaid panel members communicates with one of said side wall frames.